Automakers announced U.S. vehicle sales numbers. The winners and losers are…
Some of the winners include Tesla, where record deliveries of 95,200 units (77,550 Model 3 cars, and 17,650 Model S and Model X electric vehicles) pushed the company’s stock price up 6 percent.
Fiat Chrysler also fared well, with the best sales numbers for the June month in over a decade. This news drove the car maker’s stock up .2 percent, reversing a trend where the company has lost almost 10 percent of its value during the past three months.
At GM, there was a sales decrease of 1.5 percent to 746,659 units in Q2 of 2019. Sales were down at Chevrolet and up with Cadillac, Buick, and GMC. Crossovers have been selling well with an increase of 17 percent year over year.
The top Japanese makers Toyota, Nissan and Honda all missed estimates, while Fiat Chrysler’s Ram truck division soared, picking up market share.
Total deliveries for Toyota fell 3.5 percent. Honda experienced a 7.3 percent decline. As for Nissan, where sales of budget models like the Versa and Sentra increased, the larger models, the Rogue and Murano SUVs, fared poorly. Nissan’s total sales fell 14.9 percent.
What’s Happening?
The difference in segments seems to indicate that customers are looking for value.
Smaller, economy models have been doing well, as evidenced by Nissan’s numbers, among others.
Large vehicle markets seem relatively shaken up, with Ram grabbing attention from traditional mainstays like Ford and Chevy.
While automakers are leaning heavily on incentives, some are seeing incentives run away with profit margins. That’s a delicate dance — to offer the most possible without giving away the farm.
